News

Introduction In a bid to help the development and adoption of tokenised assets, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has published consultation paper (CP25-28) titled “Progressing Fund Tokenisation.” The consultation applies to: UCITS management companies UK fund managers managing authorised funds Depositaries of authorised funds However, it will be of interest to the wider investment community…

His Majesty’s Treasury (HM Treasury) has issued an Appointed Representative (AR) Regime Policy Statement in response to its December 2021 Call for Evidence on the regulatory approach to ARs. The underlying drivers behind the Call for Evidence being the recent scandal involving the AR regime and the egregiously high levels of consumer complaints involving ARs.…

In April 2022 the FCA launched a three-year strategy, called Strategy 2022 to 2025, to improve consumer outcomes across the range of the FCA’s growing remit. The strategy had several key priorities including preventing serious harm, setting higher standards, and promoting competition. For the first time the FCA also promised to hold itself accountable against…

The Financial Services Regulation Committee (FSRC), a House of Lords Select Committee, has recently published a report for UK regulators titled ‘Growing pains: clarity and culture change required.’ In this article, we will explore some of the themes in the report including the ever-increasing compliance burden, compliance costs, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Authorisation process and…

On 8th May 2025, the FCA published its findings resulting from its review of smaller asset management firms. The review, part of the FCA’s 2022 Alternatives supervision strategy, sought to identify smaller firm business models posing increased risks of harm to consumers. Although, the FCA is clear that some of the findings may also apply to…

The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has been fast out of the blocks in response to intense (some might say “desperate”) lobbying from His Majesty’s Government to help foster UK growth. The FCA’s strategic vision is entitled “Deepening Trust, Rebalancing Risk, Supporting Growth, Improving Lives.”  One thing we can conclude, judging by the FCA’s 22-page vision,…

The government wrote to regulators at the end of 2024 against the backdrop of a flatlining economy, requesting that they and their regulations “support growth”. On 16th January, the FCA’s Nikhil Rathi responded to the government’s request with a three-page letter entitled “A New Approach to Ensure Regulators and Regulations Support Growth”. It identifies six…

We are often asked by prospective Appointed Representatives (“ARs”) what the relationship involves and how directly Sentinel will be involved in their day-to-day business. In some cases, such as incoming overseas firms, the prospective AR is entirely unfamiliar with FCA regulation, so it is potentially an even more daunting challenge. However, as explained below, Sentinel…

Firms new to the UK’s financial services markets face a steep learning curve as they contend with unfamiliar regulations and terminology. This complexity effectively leads to expensive and time-consuming barriers to entry.   However, we have set out below a high-level overview of the key choices open to new UK entrants: Remain outside the regulatory regime…

Not the latest superhero movie but real life. The press has recently reported that the FCA is cracking down on unregulated share offers, which are often made using social media platforms. The FCA is actively monitoring such platforms to identify activities that would ordinarily require FCA authorisation. One such firm in the news is Odin,…